


Restitution

by Nidhoggr (Basmit)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Connie - Freeform, Drug Abuse, F/F, Narcotics, Rehab AU, Steven Universe - Freeform, aged up connie, bad pearl, connie/pearl - Freeform, pearl - Freeform, pearl/connie, ponnie - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-22
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-16 14:09:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4628163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Basmit/pseuds/Nidhoggr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl's assigned to rehab with a certain new doctor.</p><p>Edit: Sorry guys!! (a year later..) I just happened to remember i posted some fics on up ao3 and reread this and.... yeah, it's trash ahaha. I might end up picking this back up later (and rewriting it completely bc jfc freshman me did not write well) if some of you guys ask for it. Thanks anyways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning--Heavy use of drugs in this fic. Mainly narcotics. Connie is aged up and at least 22 in this. Bad Pearl.

"Pearl, isn't it?" She waited for the woman to make a sign of confirmation. "I'm doctor Maheswaran. Since this is supposed to be an informal rehabilitation clinic, you can just call me Connie. I'll be your assigned doctor for your stay. It says here that you were-" 

"Addicted to painkillers, yeah." The woman glared at her through half lidded eyes. Connie swallowed and continued on. 

"The court's made it mandatory that you stay in our program for at least two months. And, " She added slowly while checking her clipboard,"If you don't comply you face up to 8 years for... Possession charges? That seems a bit harsh." She scribbled something down.

Great, Pearl thought at her rambling, I got assigned the newbie. At least it maybe it would the whole situation easier. She wouldn't have someone bitching down her neck constantly about how everything she did was wrong, or how she needed to ‘find a better way to release’. She leaned back on the couch she was laying in.

“Apparently repeat offenders get it worse. And I just happened to tick off the judge in my younger days.” She ran a hand through her short choppy hair.

Connie nodded nervously and rechecked the clipboard. Patient has been known to be physically violent. Ensure there are no possible weapons in room. She swallowed a lump in her throat. 

“Rehab docs don’t need any college degree. Why’re you a doctor?” She waved her arm around lazily as she spoke. 

Right. She’d been asked this question enough times before. 

“My parents believed in getting an education. I was in college and took an internship here and… Well, I guess I just didn’t want to leave.” She seemed flustered. “I completed all my college courses, though.”

Pearl snorted and tugged on her leather jacket. Saying what was on her mind would probably make it a lot harder for her to get the doctor to give her amnesty from the program, so she kept her mouth shut. 

Connie took a seat on her personal chair. “Do you want to talk about… What happened?” There was hesitancy in her voice.  
“‘What happened.’ You’re gonna have to be a little bit more specific there babe.” Pearl grinned but kept the same lazy expression. Connie reeled back and scrunched her face.

“What happened,” She cleared her throat, “As in why you would start using narcotics. Where and how did you get them?”

Pearl leaned forward and placed a hand over her eyes.

“I’m sorry my Pearl, but I’ll be going out tonight.”

“I’ll be with that Mr. Universe later.”

“I’m going with Greg out to the boardwalk!”

She sighed and shut them.

 

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” Amethyst had shouted behind at the person who had bumped into her. She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets and looked up at Pearl. “So, where're we going tonight?”

“An acquaintance of mine’s. I need to… Make a transaction.” She paused and reached into a pocket for a lighter.

“Whatever, sounds good to me.” Amethyst looked ahead and ran her hand through her side shave. Pearl had vainly hoped she wouldn’t notice the broken windows, graffiti, and trash in the area. 

“Uh, P? Don’t you think this place is kinda sketchy?” Shit. She stopped walking and lit her cigarette. 

“Yes, I suppose. But I need to get something from this friend of mine.” She emphasized the word ‘friend’, trying to lessen Amethyst’s suspicion. Amethyst looked at her with slim eyes but turned away.

“Alright, fine, whatever. But I’m not going in.”

That’s perfectly fine. She said nothing and started walking again.

When they reached the door, Amethyst grimaced. Paint was chipping off the rails, there were stains of God knows what on the patio and the entire area reeked. 

“Wait out here.” Pearl produced a key and used it to get inside, sliding through and shutting the door behind her quickly. Okay, what the fuck. Amethyst turned around and leaned on the door, watching the idle street. Sure, she thought, their crew was so close-knit they could nearly be called a gang, but they never did any violent crimes. The fact that Pearl voluntarily went into a neighbourhood like this made her foot tap and her blood pulse.

She thought of reasons why someone like Pearl would be here. Of all people, she wasn’t the one of the group to go associating with low lives. That was usually Amethyst, and even then it was always just the locals or occasional tourist. She jerked forward when the door clicked. Pearl had stepped out sluggishly and gestured for her to follow as she walked back down the steps and retraced their path home.

 

“Mmm… About a year and a half ago…” Connie quickly wrote something down and waited for her to continue.

 

“You gonna tell me what that was all about?” Her response was a short ‘no’ and Amethyst huffed. She shuffled along and cast a few quick glances at her friend every once in a while. Pearl’s eyes seemed faded. Her pupils were pinpoints and her movements slow. 

Realization hit Amethyst like a brick wall. “You railed something in there!” She howled at Pearl. “What the fuck! That’s one of the one goddamn few things we don’t do! Hurting people and doing drugs!” She spit the last part out and glared accusingly. It probably would have been intimidating if she had been taller than four foot nine.

Pearl knew this was coming. She hadn’t cared at the time. She squeezed a full baggie in her pocket. “It’s nothing.”

“Like hell it isn’t. Who the fuck was that.” Pearl paused and looked at her with shaded eyes.

“Peridot. I used to know her in high school.”

“Bullshit. What’s her real name.” Amethyst clenched her fists and jaw as Pearl looked even more out of it.

Pearl looked down and murmured something of a confirmation before she collapsed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't condone the use of illegal drugs. Don't go out trying this stuff because you think it's cool. It's not. Heavy use in this chapter.

Words were exchanged over the phone in soft mutters and coded words. 

“Hundred bucks?” A hum.

“I’ll be there in four.”

Pearl shut the phone with a snap and covered her eyes with her hands. She hadn’t done this in… years, really. Before she met her. 

An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. 

An object will continue the pattern until an even greater force acts upon it, too.

 

Pearl leaned forward on the couch until her hands were resting on her knees. Her movements were jagged with unnamed fervor and sweat beaded on the back of her neck. She was going through with it. 

“Amethyst, come on.” She yelled with false composure into the next room.

“Wha’s that?” She was obviously chewing on something.

“I need to make an errand.”

“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t show up. And put out that God-forsaken cancer stick please.” Already-narrow eyes squinted at the offending item and Pearl would have laughed if the shorter girl wasn’t about to sell her something that could kill her much faster than cigarettes.

“Alright, alright…” She crushed the tip with a slight smile in a nearby ashtray full of things that were most definitely not cigarette butts. 

This always happened. When not in their shared home, Pearl put on a reckless bravado no one but her adopted family could see through. 

“Thank you. Now here-” Peridot pulled something out of her hoodie pocket, “-Don’t take more than… Two of these every six hours before you build up a tolerance.” She placed a small bag of circular pills in Pearl’s open hand. “You’ll die. And trust me. It takes hours. It’s the worst way to go out, don’t fuck up. I gave you one-fifty, well enough for a month and then some.” 

Pearl pulled out a wad of bills from her jacket and counted the money. 

“Here. A hundred.” Peridot took the money and shoved it back in where she had originally kept the sales. “It’s customary for you to try some here. Around these parts.” She gestured at the slobbish apartment with both arms and a lopsided smile. “I got some all crushed up ‘n good on the counter over there.” 

Pearl looked at where Peridot’s gaze was. Sure enough, there was a pile of powder on the kitchen bar next to some razorblades. She couldn’t help but notice the numerous syringes and lighters as well and grimaced where Peridot couldn’t see.

“It’s the same stuff I gave you, don’t worry. Just don’t snort ‘em often or you’ll lose your sense of smell. Permanently.” She flared her nostrils and pointed at them. Oh.

But Pearl knew Peridot and her friends took the drug culture seriously. It wouldn’t be good for anyone if she happened to piss her off by not accepting. Dealing with one meant dealing with the other two, and that meant a bloodthirsty Jasper and an unfeeling cruel Lapis. You’re going to do it later on, might as well start now.

Pearl walked over to the foreign form of a familiar substance and picked up a blade. She lined up rows of it with unpracticed precision and pulled out a random bill from her pocket. She saw everything through a filter of unbridled excitement because fuck, she’d heard doing it this way was great but never had the guts to do it herself, always mooching hydros and norcos off friends and swallowing them before ultimately feeling nauseous later and ruining the experience.

Placing the bill up to the cut, she inhaled the powder slowly, ignoring the burn on the first line and fighting off the searing pain of the second and third. She stood up slowly, ignoring the uncomfortableness of the dripping liquid in the back of her throat and turned to face Peridot again who had a shit-eating grin on her face. 

“That was probably fifty milligrams. Guess you can hold your own.” Peridot slapped her on the back and directed her towards the door. Great. She just railed double her expected dosage.

Pearl didn’t realize when she had opened the door and stepped out. Everything was nice and she felt great. She noticed Amethyst was there and could only manage a lazy gesture that roughly translated to ‘okay, let’s get the hell out of here’. She seemed to get the message.

They walked for some time, but it only felt like minutes until Amethyst froze. “You railed something in there! What the fuck! That’s one of the one goddamn few things we don’t do! Hurting people and doing--” Pearl faded out. She managed a brief explanation back that even she knew wouldn’t cut it.

The next moment was a blur. She said something about who she got something from, and everything was just too fast and she was spinning, she was cold and sweaty and couldn’t think straight and she shook, then everything faded.

The world turned to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. This one was rushed.

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: Railing refers to snorting lines of pills. Still looking for a beta reader, by the way!


End file.
